Independence and war

Football nation

1828 - Brazil, Argentina renounce claims to territories which become the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

1830 - Constitution approved.

1838-65 - Civil war between Blancos, or Whites - the future conservative party - and Colorados, or Reds - the future liberals.

1865-70 - Uruguay joins Argentina and Brazil in war against Paraguay, which is defeated.

1903-15 - Reformist Jose Batlle y Ordonez (Colorado Party) gives women the franchise and establishes a welfare state, disestablishes the church and abolishes the death penalty during two successive terms as president.

1933 - Opposition groups excluded from politics following military coup.

Montevideo

1939-1945 - World War II. Uruguay is neutral for most of the war but later joins the Allies.

1951 - President replaced with nine-member council in accordance with new constitution.

Dictatorship, guerrilla warfare, return to democracy

1962 - Campaign by Tupamaros guerrillas begins and lasts until 1973.

1971 - British ambassador to Uruguay Geoffrey Jackson kidnapped by Tupamaros guerrillas and held for eight months. He is freed shortly after a mass jail break-out by Tupamaros convicts which officials deny was arranged in exchange for Jackson's release.

1972 - Sixteen survivors of a Uruguayan plane which crashes in the Andes stay alive by eating the flesh of passengers who died. The survivors, mainly members of a Uruguayan rugby team, are trapped for 10 weeks.

1973 - Armed forces seize power and promise to encourage foreign investment, but usher in a period of extreme repression during which Uruguay becomes known as "the torture chamber of Latin America" and accumulates the largest number of political prisoners per capita in the world.

2002 crisis

1985 - Army and political leaders agree on return to constitutional government and the release of political prisoners; law grants amnesty to members of the armed forces accused of human rights violations during years of dictatorship; Julio Maria Sanguinetti becomes president.

2010 February - Former president Juan Maria Bordaberry is sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder and violation of the constitution in the wake of the 1973 military coup. Because of his age he serves the sentence at home, and dies in 2011.

2010 March - Jose Mujica takes office as president.

2011 October - Congress votes to revoke an amnesty law that protected military officers from prosecution for crimes committed under military rule in 1975-1983.

2012 October - Uruguay becomes the first country in Latin America after Cuba to legalise abortion for all women. The Senate voted narrowly to allow abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

2013 April - Uruguay legalises same-sex marriage, becoming only the second country in Latin America to do so. Argentina, which legalised gay marriage in 2010, was the first.

2013 December - Uruguay becomes the first country to legalise the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana for recreational use, as a measure to counter drug cartels. The UN drugs watchdog says the move violates international law.

2014 March - The entire board of Uruguay's Football Association resigns amid a crisis over violence at matches.

2014 July - Government says the legalisation of cannabis sales, due to begin in state-owned pharmacies in November, will be delayed until next year due to practical difficulties.

2014 October - First round of presidential elections.

2014 November - Tabare Vazquez wins the presidency in the second round of voting.